The Mistletoe Effect XI: Logan & Marie
by Ultrawoman
Summary: Festive OneShot. The effect of mistletoe on Logan & Marie. A party is happening at the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters and Marie thought it would be a good idea to show up, mostly in the hope of seeing an old friend. Set in a post-The Last Stand AU.


**A/N: I do so love this pairing but I never quite feel I do them justice when I try to write them. Oh well, it is what it is, and I do my best!**

 **You may have noticed this story is labelled as part 11 in a series, and that's because I have been writing The Mistletoe Effect on-and-off for the past 10 years and X-Men is the 11th fandom to get the treatment!**

 **If you like Buffy, Veronica Mars, That 70s Show, Press Gang, Leverage, OUAT, Necessary Roughness, or Alice feel free to check out the others in the series.**

 **The others being posted for this festive season are Gilmore Girls, White Collar, and The Librarians :)**

 **Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Marvel, Fox, Stan Lee, and other folks who aren't me.**

The Mistletoe Effect XI: Logan & Marie

Coming back here was starting to feel like a mistake.

It had been a few years since Marie had last set foot in the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. She was old enough now that she no longer needed the education nor the sanctuary that the school provided. The world was a different place for mutants and she had moved on from this place that had once felt like the only one where she could really belong, but this was no ordinary day.

For Christmas, a party was being held, a Charity Ball in fact that was open to all former students to attend. There were no formal invitations, just a general announcement of the event, and Marie had so wanted to see the people she had known again.

It had been a long time. Sometimes it felt like forever since the day she walked out and never looked back. It had been her own choice in a lot of ways, though influenced by others. The concern had been that she went after the cure for the wrong reasons, but that wasn't true. She walked out of here for her own good too and she never regretted it. Coming back, now that was something she was starting to wish she hadn't done.

It was Marie's great hope that they might have come to understand her actions. Back then, some of them had judged her, for various reasons. Storm always said they were not diseased, that mutation did not require a cure. That was easy for her to say. Her hair colour notwithstanding, she could pass for any 'normal' person on the street if she wished to. So could Marie for the most part, but that wasn't the issue. She wanted relationships, to actually be able to touch another person without fear. Normal was the watchword. Those mutants who could fly, walk through walls, control metal or water or fire, they could live as regular humans if they wanted to, they could decide not to use their ability to be different. Rogue never had that choice, until the cure.

Bobby tried to do the right thing. He wanted Rogue to be happy but could not understand why curing herself was the answer. He wanted to love her as she was, but Rogue could never love herself until she had some control. The cure gave her that, and she didn't want to be sorry that she took it. These people made her feel sorry, every single one. Well, almost.

At the time, she had decided to leave and go out on her own, able to care for herself and understand her own motives even if nobody else could. The one who might have, she searched the world for, but never found him. Perhaps more than half the reason she had come here tonight was in the hopes that he would show. No such luck. She ought to have known better.

Across the room she heard voices mention her name. Eyes were staring, judging. Though she was Marie now, and embraced her real self, these people thought of her as Rogue, either afraid that her power still lived within her, or disgusted that she had wanted to remove it. She never felt so judged, and she wasn't going to take it anymore.

Turning on her heel she headed outside, right out the back door in the hopes of not garnering any more attention than she already had on her. The air was cold enough that her breath froze in front of her, but she kept moving. Around to the side of the building where a fountain towered up from the ground, the water frozen by harsh weather. Rogue shivered, and not because she was cold.

"I never shoulda come here," she muttered to herself, shaking her head and pushing forward to make her escape.

A voice behind her made her stop dead in her tracks;

"I'm glad you did."

Her eyes closed the moment he spoke, his voice echoing through her like an electric current. It had been way too long.

"If it ain't the Wolverine," she said with a smile that came so naturally as she turned to face him. "Hello, Logan."

"Rogue," he greeted her, nodding once.

He looked the same, not that she expected anything else. The man didn't age, he wasn't physically capable of it, and apparently his fashion sense was as dire as ever. Rogue didn't care. Logan looked good no matter what he wore, and better when he wore less. She blushed at the memory of the teenage crush that she had in the beginning, of the dreams that haunted her so long. She wasn't a kid anymore, and from the way his eyes raked over her form in the tight-fitting dark red dress, he had to have noticed too.

"Wasn't sure you'd be here," she said, wondering when her voice got so soft.

"Wasn't sure myself," he replied, pushing off the wall he had been leaning against and tossing the stub of his cigar on the ground, crushing it under his boot as he came toward her. "Good to see you."

"You too," she confirmed as he reached her, lit by the fairy lights and the moon that was almost full in the sky. "Real good."

"What? No hug this time?" he asked, smirking just a little.

She almost laughed at the crazy request. It wasn't just any person who would be asked to hug the Wolverine. Most would get sliced and diced for daring to try it, but things were alway different with the two of them. He was always different with her.

Reaching her arms up around Logan's neck, Rogue squeezed him to her and revelled at the feeling of his strong arms around her body too. Her cheek rubbed against his own, fingers playing in the hair at the nape of his neck. It felt so good to touch, to be touched, even in these simple ways, and all the better because it was him.

Logan pulled back and stared at her, just a little confused.

"Rumour was it didn't last."

"Rumour was true," she confirmed, still holding onto him, not minding at all that his hands stayed at her waist. "'Course if you keep up the dose, it's different. Just like taking a pill every day. Ain't no worse off than a diabetic who needs their insulin, and it gives me control, makes me feel... free," she said, smiling brightly.

Logan nodded because he understood. In the beginning he had worried she wanted to change for Bobby, but it soon became clear that wasn't true. Rogue wanted to be Marie. She wanted to touch and feel like a regular person, and Logan didn't want to deny her that. He wanted her happy, it was all he ever wanted. Now it seemed that things had come right for her. It was a pleasure to see her smile like that, like she really meant it.

"Unfortunately, some people don't understand," she said then, that precious smile wavering as she ducked her head. "They don't want to be cured, and that's fine. Maybe if I had their powers, I wouldn't either, but mine's different. Too different, and dangerous."

"Hey," said Logan, his finger at her chin, turning her head until she was looking at him again. "I understand," he promised her, letting his fingers trail up her face, hand cupping her cheek then. "Screw them if they don't."

She watched him smile, realising maybe for the first time that this was as sweet a moment for him as it was for her. He could never do this before, touch her, comfort her the way he wanted to. Hugs were fine but always careful, always brief. This was better, different, intimate. It felt good. Good enough that she shivered.

"You're cold," he noted, arms wrapping back around her.

"I don't think that's the problem," she told him, the shake in her voice giving away more than her words ever did.

When he moved closer, she had a feeling she knew what was coming. It couldn't have been a sweeter moment if it were her first kiss. She almost wished it were, but that didn't mater. First with him would be the only one that really meant anything anyway. Certainly, she was feeling no cold at all as his lips moved against hers. Like some kind of movie cliché, her eyes fell shut and the world went away. She expected nothing less, but only because it was him.

"I missed you, Marie," he told her when they parted, so soft she barely heard.

There were few that knew he could be so gentle and kind. The Wolverine was an animal, but Logan was a man, the only man she ever felt this much for. Of course, some day she wouldn't mind letting loose the animal inside of him with the passion that she knew existed inside her too, but now wasn't the time for that.

"Missed me more than I thought if that kiss was anything to go by," she told him, smiling and breathless.

"It's Christmas. Blame the mistletoe," he told her.

Marie looked up at the night sky studded with stars. They were nowhere near any mistletoe, not out here in the open. No decorations from the party had made it this far. There wasn't even a tree close by. She had one eyebrow raised when she looked back at him, but Logan only grinned.

"I was hopin' we didn't need that kind of help," she ventured, tilting her chin.

He didn't need to say another word, just captured her lips with his own one more time.

Coming back here was starting to feel like the best decision Marie ever made.

The End


End file.
